Means for attaching handles to adjustable brush sweepers



May 15, 1962 c. B. STEVENS ET AL 3,034,163

MEANS FOR ATTACHING HANDLES TO ADJUSTABLE BRUSH SWEEPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 15, 1960 F C1. 4 INVENTORS C LlFFORD BRooKs STEVENSI 5 BY RALPH F GARM wrmw ATTORNEYS M y 15, 1 c. B. STEVENS ET AL 3,034,163

MEANS FOR ATTACHING HANDLES TO ADJUSTABLE BRUSH SWEEPERS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 15, 1960 INVENTORS CUFFORD BROOKS STEVENS RALPH F. Gaams 1M wO pJmJ FIG. 8

AT ORNEY United States Patent "ice 3,034,163 MEANS FOR ATTACHWG HANDLES T0 ADJ UST- ABLE BRUSH SWEEPERS Clifford Brooks Stevens, Milwaukee, and Ralph F. Garms,

Brookfield, Wis., assignors to E. R. Wagner Manufacturing Company, Milwaukee, Wis, a corporation of Wisconsin Filed Feb. 15, 1960, Ser. No. 8,745 (Ilaims. (Cl. -41) This invention relates to improvements in sweepers and particularly to an improved manner of attaching the handle to the sweeper and providing for a brush adjustment which permits the sweeper to be used on both bare and carpeted floors.

The object of this invention is to eliminate the unsightly U-shaped bail commonly found in floor sweepers while retaining the desirable handle controlled, high-low brush adjustment and handle locking features and to lower the total height of the sweeper when in use to make it easier to sweep under low furniture.

This object is accomplished by mounting the bail under the cover of the sweeper with only a central portion of its bridge exposed in a depressed area of the cover. A two-part handle socket member is secured to this bridge portion and the handle is threaded and telescoped around it. The bail has very short vertical legs which contact the bail supports. The legs have fingers which operate brush height adjustment cams. These cams determine the selectable downward limits of the brush which is spring biased downward and may move up relative to the sweeper case in operation. Elimination of the U-shaped bail both improves the esthetic qualities of the sweeper and reduces sweeper height permitting cleaning under very low furniture without danger of marring such furniture.

Other objects and advantages will appear from, or be pointed out in, the following specification and claims, in which:

FIG. 1 is an end view in elevation of a sweeper embodying the invention with a portion of the end bell broken away to display one of the end plates;

FIG. 2 is a view in elevation of the inside of the end bell shown in FIG. 1 with the relative location of the brush pulley and driving wheels indicated by broken lines;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the sweeper embodying this invention;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the inside of the top removed from the sweeper casing with the bail and the handle socket member assembled;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary bottom plan view of the inside of the top with the bail and ball bearing plate removed;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary plan view of the bail, the twopart handle socket member with part of the upper half broken away, and the handle; and

FIG. 8 is a sectional View taken on the line 8--8 of FIG. 7.

FIG. 9 is taken on line 9-9 of 'FIG. 2.

Referring to the drawings by reference numerals, the sweeper embodying this invention employs the usual rotary brush 10 driven by wheels 12 so that the dirt picked up by the brush is discharged within a casing 14 where it lodges on openable dust pans 16. The casing consists of top 18 and sides 26 secured to end plates 22. The end plates carry the wheels 12, dust pans 16 and the bail supports. The wheels are partly enclosed by end bells 24 which movably support brush mounting spring slides 26 i atentecl May is, less and brush height adjusting cams 28 in a manner well known in this art as shown by U.S. Patent 2,121,880.

In such patent the main body or bridge portion of the handle bail and all but a relatively small part of the vertical legs of the bail are located above the top and outside of the casing. In order to swing the handle to sweeper storage position the vertical legs had to be relatively long, say about one-half the width of the sweeper casing. This made it difiicult to employ the sweeper under low furniture. The essence of this invention resides in placing the bridge of the bail within the sweeper casing (except a small portion as herein described), pivoting the bail on the axis of the bridge and using relatively short vertical legs to contact the bail supports and brush height adjustment cams. To do this the top 18 has a centrally placed downwardly depressed recess 30, the depth of which is enough to permit the two-part flat sided handle socket member to be swung to storage position in which the handle is in a plane substantially parallel to the mean plane of the sweeper. As is clearly shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 the bottom of the recess has a rectangular opening 32 and the sides of the recess have slots 34 extending from the inside of the top to such opening.

The bail has a long bridge 36 at the ends of which are short vertical legs 38. The central part of the bridge, as shown in FIG. 7, is formed into a long narrow loop 40 which is tightly gripped between the two die cast halves of a flat shaped handle socket member 42. The bail with the socket member attached is assembled to the top by inserting the socket member into the opening 32, seating the bridge 36 into the slots 34 'and securing it in place by a bail bearing plate 44. This plate has a raised portion 46 which fits into and closes the rectangular opening 32 and projecting arms 48 which press against the bridge 36 and cover the slots 34. Tabs 50 formed on the edge 7 of the opening 32 are fitted through slots in the plate 44 and bent over to hold the plate and hail assembled. This design results in the bail being mounted for pivoting about the axis of the bridge closely adjacent the inside of the top 18.

As can be seen in FIGS. 7 and 8, the die cast halves of the socket member 42 have raised threads spaced inwardly from semi-circular flanges 51 which form a threaded opening with an annular flange when assembled.

A tubular handle 52 has a plug 53 with an extending threaded stud 55 and a surrounding ferrule or ring 57. When assembled the ferrule surrounds and holds the flanges 51 to strengthen the assembled socket member. Due to the fact that the loop 40 is strongly held in the interior of member 42 that part of the member which overlies the bridge 36 and comes between it and the plate 44 may be relatively thin to permit the recess 30 to be shallow.

The handle 5-2 and socket member 42 are frictionally held by bail support locking plates 54 in the proper adjusted operating position relative to the sweeper to prevent undue rocking of the sweeper casing during operation. These plates, made of a special metal to resist wear, are carried by the end plates 22. -At their tops these plates have semi-circular openings to provide bearings 56 for the bridge 36 of the bail which locate and support its outer ends. Pressed outward from said plates in a semi-circular path concentric with the bearing 56 are friction portions 58. These portions are in frictional contact with rubbing bumps 60 (see FIG. 4) on the vertical legs 38 of the bail. The length of these portions is set to let the bumps 60 drop off at the center position and the two extreme storage positions of the handle relative to the sweeper.

In U.S. Patent 2,121,380, previously mentioned, the brush height adjustment was positively made by bail operated adjusting cams against the lower sides of which the V a 3 vertically movable brush mounting slides were forced by springs. In this improvement each of the slides 26 is constantly urged downwardly by a biasing spring 62 which is mounted under tabs 64 pressed in inwardly of the end bell 2-4 and presses downwardly on a pin 66 mounted on such slide The lower limit to which such springs can resiliently force the'slides' 26 over brush is determined by a low cam surface 63 on each cam (see position shown in FIG. 2) The upper limit to which such springs can force the slides and brush, is determined by a high cam surface 70 on each such cam. Each cam is pivoted to an end bell 24 by a mounting pin 72 so that it canbe swung from a center positiontin which the brush is permitted to move to low or Thin position) to one side for maintaining such low position or to the other side for changing to high or Thick position. When in Thin position the brush 10 will properly contact a bare floor for sweeping and will give upwardly for proper contact with a short' pile carpet. In the Thick position the brush will adjust itself to variations in deep pile carpets. In either position the brush Will adjust to varying handle pressures. The springs 62 will give and permit upward movement of the brush relative to the wheel supported casing to obtain these results. The cams 28 are swung by fingers 74 on the legs 38 of the ball which engage the sides of a centrally located indentation 76 onthe periphery of the cam as the bail is moved from center position. During further movement of the bail for adjustment to proper sweeping position the fingers will ride on peripheral arcuate surfaces 78 on such cams to maintain the cams in the selected positions. Both the fingers and the sides of the indentation 76 move in a circular path in the same direction which makes the movement of the cams easier.

. The sweeper of this invention is of highly attractive appearance, is Well balanced, easily handled and con.- trolled and may be used under low furniture. The swinging of the bail to theThin position as illust rated in FIG.

3 permits the brush to operate both on bare floors and on thin pile rugs. In operation, as the sweeper is moved 'from a bare floor to a thin pile rug, the resilience in the biasing spring 62 permits the brush to automatically rise from the lowermost position and adjust itself. In addition to these special advantages the sweeper lends itself to economical production from material and manufacturing facilities ordinarily available. stored when not in use.

While there has been shown and described one construction in which the invention'may be advantageously used it is to be understood that the specific construction shown and described has been selected for purposes of illustration and that various changes in size, shape and arrangement of the parts may be made without departing from the spirit of invention and the scope of the claims.

We claim: 1. A sweeper comprising a casing, a rotary brush and driving wheels carried by said casing, said casing having a top, a recess in the central part of said top, an opening to the interior of said casing in said recess, a bail having a bridge within said casing, bearing means pivotally Finally, it is conveniently mounting said bridge on the inner surface of said top adjacent said recess, said bridge having anintegral U- shaped portion extending through said opening and exposed in said recess, and a flat shaped handle attached to said portion. a

2. A sweeper according to claim 1 in which the bearing means pivotably mounting said bridge to said top has a portion substantially closing said opening.

3. A sweeper according to claim 1 in which the flat shaped handle means includes a flat shaped socket member between said handle and said U-shaped portion and said socket member coacting with said recess to permit said handle to be swung to a sweeper storage position.

4. A sweeper according to claim3 in which said socket member comprise two parts superimposed and joined to form an internally threaded opening, said parts having semi-circular flanges at said opening, and in which there is a plug mounted on said handle having a threaded stud screwed into said threaded opening and a ring surrounding said semi-circular flanges to assist in holding said parts joined.

5. A sweeper according to claim 1 in which there is tion of said slide, said cam means being moved by said short leg;

7. A sweeper according to claim 6 in which said cam means has an indentation with sides and said short leg has a finger engageable with said sides to swing said cam meansto selected position.

8. A sweeper according to claim 1 in which there is a bail support and locking plate mounted within said cas- "ing, and said bridge has a short leg within said casing frictionally engaged with said locking plate, said plate having an upwardly opened bearing supporting the outer end of said bridge adjacent said leg.

9. A sweeper according to claim 8 in which said plate has spaced raised portions arranged in a circular path for frictional engagement with said short leg, the facing ends of said raised portions cooperating with said leg to hold said bail in center position, and the outer ends of said raised portions cooperating with said leg to hold said bail 111 a sweeper storage position.

10. A sweeper comprising a casing having end plates and spaced end bells, a top for said casing, downwardly biased movable brush mounting strips carried by said end bells, a rotary brush carried by said strips, driving wheels for said brush between said end plates and end bells for driving said brush as said casing is moved back and forth, a handle for imparting back and forth motion to said casing, a centrally placed downwardly depressed recess in said top having a bottom and sides, an opening in the bottom of said recess, said sides having slots extending upwardly from said opening, a bail having a bridge mounted within said slots and extending longitudinally beneath said top, said bail having a central integral part extending through said opening, a flat shaped handle socket member secured to said integral part, said handle being secured to said member, bail support and locking plates carried by said end plates, said bridge having its outer end portions extending beyond said end plates and guided by said locking plates, short legs on the outer ends of said bridge frictionally engaged with said locking plates, cam means pivoted to said end bells and movable to adjustably limit the downward movement of said mounting strips, and fingers on said short legs engageable with said cam means to shift said means to selected position by positioning of said handle.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Feb. 17, 1939 

